Some things I've noticed:
- Rookies can make huge jumps if they have a good year. Corey Coleman and Emmanuel Ogbah were both high 80's one season after having good stat lines
- There is parity. The Browns were in the Super Bowl after 3 years in one Franchise
- Not a lot of bad signings/releases. The worst I saw was the Rams signing Drew Brees in Goff's third season. And Goff was coming off a decent year, but was an 80 overall
- I have seen generated rookie O lineman jump up in ratings to high 80's, but it doesn't seem like many get into the 90's
- Same with CB's
- It seems to be easier for the CPU to progress players that get touchdowns, catches, carries, tackles, and sacks
- I don't understand contracts, they seem to be much lower than real life contracts.
I also tracked overall ratings of players in certain position groups: QB, WR, LT, C, RG, CB, and SS. I tallied up the amount of players with an OVR of 80 or greater, and then 90 or greater, first with the base rosters, then after 4 years, then after 8 years. Here are my results:
base roster // after 4 years // after 8 years
QB
> 80.... 17 // 21 // 25
> 90.... 6 // 5 // 6
WR
> 80.... 36 // 58 // 81 (a lot of teams had 3 80 or better WR's)
> 90.... 8 // 12 // 3
LT
>80.... 16 // 24 // 39
>90.... 5 // 2 // 1
C
>80.... 15 // 11 // 13 (highest is 87 - Travis Frederick. Next highest is 83)
>90.... 1 // 1 // 0
RG
>80.... 8 // 14 // 18
>90.... 3 // 2 // 1
CB
>80.... 31 // 25 // 26
>90.... 10 // 3 // 2
SS
>80.... 13 // 25 // 33 (by year 8, only one team did not have at least an 80 SS)
>90.... 2 // 2 // 3
Not perfect, but nothing game breaking imo. CB numbers are a little disappointing. But this is a small sample size.
It should be noted I simmed one franchise 4 years, then started a completely new one and simmed 8 years. So this is not a continuation.

Comment